Highlights:

• Blogging is a cornerstone to SM campaign
• Focus on “combined relevance” which should tell you the reason your content matters – also, “personal relevance” which is why content is important to your specific audience
• Content should, first and foremost, be audience focused and not vehicle to push information about one’s self (on blog as well we other SM platforms)
• Potential audiences are looking for a “point of view” on blogs
• Use “Social Proof” to verify your content by embedding SM buttons and prove to audience the relevancy of posts
• Grammar and writing quality matter
• Weekends are ideal for sharing content
• Custom designed formats are ideal
• Make blog post titles descriptive to drive appeal on SM sharing sites
• Multiple blog authors, with profiles, is preferred
• Limiting categories can help page organization
• Avoid “TLDR” (too long, didn’t read)

Want to watch the webinar yourself? Dan’s talk is hosted in its entirety on HubSpot.

When we sit down to consult with a school on their social media strategy, one of the biggest concerns is time management. Staff already have many different projects on their plates (and several waiting in the wings). How is it possible to keep up with not only 1) listening to what people are saying about them, but 2) remembering to allot time to all of these new tools, especially if they have to learn them first?

I often think of a marketer’s common concern: the switching cost hurdle. If the mental energy and effort expelled in making a switch in behavior is perceived as being greater than the benefit, the switch doesn’t occur. We also see this all the time in business with the adoption of social media — are the benefits of using social tools like Facebook worth the learning curve involved?

From what I’ve read so far, I agree with Amber — listen first, and come up with some solid goals. It shouldn’t be an exhaustive list, but maybe one or two things that you’d really like to get accomplished. Then, once you’ve been listening for a while, decide on what tools can help you the most. I also like to add that if you’re thinking of using more than one website to promote, get really good at one before moving on to a second. If you need to reserve your URLs, by all means do it, but make sure you have your goals outlined, and maybe a schedule if you’re sharing responsibilities with more than one person in your area.

How do you stay on top of social media on your team?

Image courtesy John-Morgan on Flickr.

Twitter in Plain English: Common Craft’s video is a perfect companion starting point to understanding the basics of Twitter. It explains the way Twitter works in “plain English”, and is a quick way to indoctrinate your team members if they ask you what Twitter’s all about.

Kevin Rose: 10 Ways To Increase Your Twitter Followers: Though I’m always cautious when someone asks me how to grow their followers the fastest (as we discussed yesterday, it’s about quality, not quantity) Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, has some great suggestions. I think the title should be “How to be more interesting on Twitter”. The article is over a year old but every point still holds true.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s Talk and Q&A at the 140 Characters Conference in April 2010: Another great video — Gary’s talk begins about 3 minutes in. His networking skills on Twitter and UStream helped Gary build his wine business into a web sensation, and helped him to get a 10-book deal with HarperCollins. Warning to sensitive souls: he has a bit of a foul mouth.

How to Run Successful Contests on Twitter: Something you might not need to focus on right at the beginning of your Twitter experiment, but once you start thinking about giveaways or other contests for your network, this information will be useful for you. Shortly, we’ll also share our experience with contests toward the end of this past school year.

Grow Bigger Ears in Ten Minutes: Chris Brogan gives some concrete steps to increase your ability to listen to what people are saying about you online — and listening is the whole point of this exercise, right? I highly recommend Chris Brogan’s blog — his thoughts on the purpose and execution of social media are spot-on.

While you’re thinking about Twitter, you also want to think about how your page will look (and tie in to the rest of your brand’s messaging and visual experience). Boston University’s Marketing & Communications group has recently created guidelines for social network icons and backgrounds.

What other articles or videos would you add to this list?